This application claims the priority benefit of Japanese application Ser. No. 2000-314229, Flied on Oct. 13, 2000, 2000-314234, filed on Oct. 13, 2000, and 2000-314238, filed on Oct. 13, 2000.
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates in general to a loading apparatus for a recording medium. More specifically, the present invention relates to a loading apparatus capable of loading various types of recording media. In addition, more particularly, the present invention relates to a disc apparatus wherein a disc-shaped recording medium or a disc cartridge receiving a disc-shaped recording medium can be selectively inserted.
2. Description of Related Art
A conventional recording medium loading apparatus installed in a disc apparatus having exchangeable property for a plurality of disc recording media (referring to compatible disc apparatus, hereinafter) is used as an example for description. For example, a disc apparatus used as a device for reproducing or recording information is built in or externally connected to an electronic apparatus, such as a personal computer or a word processor. The disc apparatus uses the disc-shaped recording medium as its recording medium. In addition, the disc-shaped recording medium is loaded into the disc apparatus using a recording medium loading apparatus and is then reproduced or recorded.
On the other hand, a variety of disc recording media are also provided, for example CD (Compact Disc), CD-R (Compact Disc-Recordable), CD-ROM (Compact Disc-Read Only Memory), CD-RW (Compact Disc-Rewritable), DVD-ROM (Digital Versatile Disc-Read Only Memory), DVD-RAM (Digital Versatile Disc-Random Access Memory) are well known. In addition, there are two kinds of recording medium: one is the disc with a diameter of 12 cm, and the other is the disc with a diameter of 8 cm. Moreover, for the DVD-RAM, three kinds can be classified, including wherein the disc is enfolded in a cartridge. Namely, there are two insertion methods: one is the slot-in method wherein the disc-shaped recording medium (disc) is directly inserted, and the other is the cartridge insertion method wherein the disc is enfolded in the cartridge and then inserted.
For the slot-in method, when the disc is inserted to a slit-shape insertion opening formed on the front bezel, a pair of built-in rollers are in contact with the upper and lower surfaces of the disc and then driven to rotate. Therefore, when the disc is inserted to the insertion opening manually, the rollers are rotated to bring the disc into the predetermined loaded position in the disc apparatus.
For the cartridge insertion method, when the cartridge is inserted to an insertion opening formed on the front bezel, the cartridge is brought into the disc apparatus by operations of the built-in cartridge transferring mechanism. Therefore, when the cartridge is inserted to the insertion opening manually, the cartridge transferring mechanism is driven to bring the disc into the predetermined loaded position in the disc apparatus.
As described above, although a variety of disc-shaped recording media is provided, it becomes convenient if the reproducing and/or recording process for each disc-shaped recording medium can be performed by one disc apparatus. Therefore, a compatible disc apparatus having the exchangeable property for each disc-shaped recording medium is provided.
A variety of the disc-shaped recording media have to be transferred in the main body of the disc apparatus for the compatible disc apparatus. Conventionally, for the recording medium loading apparatus, a tray is used as the transferring device in the main body of the disc apparatus. The tray can be drawn out of the main body of the disc apparatus when the disc-shaped recording medium is loaded or ejected (referring to eject time, hereinafter). In addition, loading recesses are formed on a disc loading surface of the tray for loading the 12 cm disc, 8 cm disc and the disc cartridge, thereby a variety of the disc-shaped recording media can be loaded on the tray.
For the conventional compatible disc apparatus, because the tray is installed for loading the disc-shaped recording media, it is necessary for the tray to be greatly drawn out of the main body of the disc apparatus when the disc-shaped recording media are loaded to or removed from the tray. Therefore, for the conventional compatible disc apparatus, when the disc apparatus is installed, it is necessary to estimate the drawing distance of the tray in advance for setting required space, which becomes a problem in that the installation space becomes large.
Furthermore, an external force is easily applied to the tray when the tray is greatly drawn out of the main body of the disc apparatus. Therefore, for the structure using the tray to transfer the disc-shaped recording media, there is a problem that malfunction is easily caused due to the applied external force.
In addition, a device for loading various types of the disc-shaped recording medium using a clamp lever rather than the tray is provided, by which the disc-shaped recording medium is brought into the main body of the disc apparatus by the clamp lever. However, for the structure using the clamp lever, the clamp lever is different from the tray in one aspect that the clamp lever cannot hold the whole disc-shaped recording medium and the clamp lever can usually hold only the front or side edge of the disc-shaped recording medium. Therefore, the hold of the disc by the clamp lever is weaker than that by the tray. The disc-shaped recording medium may be detached from the clamp lever if a large external force is applied to the disc in such a holding status.
Furthermore, to prevent from detachment, another holding device for holding the disc-shaped recording medium in addition to the clamp lever is demanded. However, the other holding device creates interference when each type of the disc-shaped recording medium is loaded by the clamp lever, and therefore the loading process may not be smoothly processed.
However, because the slot-in or the cartridge insertion method can be used in the conventional disc apparatus, the recording medium type that can be used is restricted. For example, for the case that the recording medium is only the disc, the cartridge insertion method cannot be used, while for the case that the recording medium is a cartridge, the slot-in insertion cannot be used. Therefore, for the conventional disc apparatus, it is necessary that the loading method of the disc apparatus for the recording medium has to be confirmed first and then the recording medium is restrictively selected, which is very inconvenient.
In addition, for the disc apparatus having a tray type loading apparatus, there are also a disc apparatus and a cartridge formed on the tray. However, the sliding space of the tray becomes large because the tray is larger than the cartridge, and therefore it is difficult to reduce the size of the disc apparatus.
To solve the foregoing problems, it is an object of the invention to provide a recording medium loading apparatus for smoothly loading the disc-shaped recording medium to the carrier, and for stably holding and transferring the disc-shaped recording medium.
It is another object of the invention to provide a recording medium loading apparatus to save the installation space and prevent malfunction from occurrence.
According to the object(s) mentioned above, the present invention provides various recording medium loading apparatuses according to embodiments of the present invention.
The present invention provides a recording medium loading apparatus capable of loading a first disc-shaped recording medium or a second disc-shaped recording medium, comprising the following elements. A carrier is used for transferring the first or the second disc-shaped recording medium between a first position for inserting/removing and a second position for reproducing an/or recording. The carrier comprises a first holding device for holding an outer circumference of the first disc-shaped recording medium, and a second holding device for holding a front end of the second disc-shaped recording medium.
In the recording medium loading apparatus above, the first disc-shaped recording medium is a circular disc, and the second disc-shaped recording medium is a disc cartridge having a circular disc provided therein.
Accordingly, the first or the second disc-shaped recording medium is transferred by the carrier between the first position and the second position. At this time, the first disc-shaped recording medium is transferred by the first holding device installed on the carrier in a manner wherein the outer circumference of the first disc-shaped recording medium is held. In addition, the second disc-shaped recording medium is transferred by the second holding device installed on the carrier in a manner wherein the front end of the second disc-shaped recording medium is held.
Thereby, it is possible that the carrier is positioned in the main body of the disc apparatus, and the first or the second disc-shaped recording medium can be held by the first or the second holding device of the carrier. No constituent element drawn out of the disc apparatus is required when the first or the second disc-shaped recording medium is inserted/removed, by which the installation space for the disc apparatus can be reduced. Furthermore, it also reduces the opportunity for an external force to be applied to the disc apparatus because no constituent element drawn out of the disc apparatus is required when the first or the second disc-shaped recording medium is inserted/removed, and therefore malfunction can be prevented from occurrence.
The invention further provides a recording medium loading apparatus capable of loading a first disc-shaped recording medium without being enfolded in a cartridge or a second disc-shaped recording medium enfolded in a cartridge, comprising the following elements. A carrier is used for transferring the first and the second disc-shaped recording media between an eject position and a loaded position within a holder; and a transferring disc holding member is installed on the holder, for engaging with a rear portion in an insertion direction of the transferred first disc-shaped recording medium by the carrier and then holding the first disc-shaped recording medium. When the carrier is at the eject position, the carrier causes the transferring disc holding member to move to a retrocede position without baring the insertion of the first and the second disc-shaped recording media. When the first disc-shaped recording medium is loaded, in the process wherein the carrier is moved from the eject position to the loaded position, the carrier releases a resilience to the transferring disc holding member, permitting the transferring disc holding member to move to a holding position for holding the first disc-shaped recording medium. When the second disc-shaped recording medium is loaded, in the process wherein the carrier is moved from the eject position to the loaded position, the cartridge of the second disc-shaped recording medium is engaged with the transferring disc holding member and is maintained at the retrocede position.
The selectively loaded first or second disc-shaped recording medium is held by the carrier installed on the holder and transferred between the eject position and the loaded position. Additionally, because the transferring disc holding member is engaged with the rear portion in the insertion direction of the first disc-shaped recording medium when the first disc-shaped recording medium is transferred, the first disc-shaped recording medium is held by both the carrier and the transferring disc holding member. Accordingly, it can prevent the first disc-shaped recording medium from detaching the carrier and the first disc-shaped recording medium can be stably transferred even though the disc-shaped recording medium is not enfolded in the cartridge.
In addition, because the carrier causes the transferring disc holding member to move to the retrocede position without impeding the insertion of each disc-shaped recording medium when the carrier is set at the eject position, i.e., when the first or the second disc-shaped recording medium is inserted, each disc-shaped recording medium can be smoothly loaded to the carrier.
Furthermore, when the first disc-shaped recording medium is loaded and in the process that the carrier is moved from the eject position to the loaded position, the carrier releases the resilience to the transferring disc holding member. Therefore, the transferring disc holding member is moved to the holding position for holding the first disc-shaped recording medium so that the first disc-shaped recording medium can be smoothly and stably transferred.
On the other hand, when the second disc-shaped recording medium is loaded and in the process wherein the carrier is moved from the eject position to the loaded position, the cartridge of the second disc-shaped recording medium is engaged with the transferring disc holding member, thereby the transferring disc holding member is maintained at the retrocede position. Accordingly, in the case that the second disc-shaped recording medium is loaded, the transferring disc holding member does not interfere with the insertion of the second disc-shaped recording medium, and therefore the second disc-shaped recording medium can be smoothly and stably transferred.
The present invention further provides a recording medium loading apparatus capable of loading a disc-shaped recording medium, comprising a carrier used for transferring the first and the second disc-shaped recording media between an eject position and a loaded position within a holder; and a transferring disc holding member installed on the holder, for engaging with a rear portion in an insertion direction of the transferred first disc-shaped recording medium by the carrier and then holding the first disc-shaped recording medium. When the carrier is at the eject position, the carrier causes the transferring disc holding member to move to a retrocede position without baring the insertion of the first and the second disc-shaped recording media. When the disc-shaped recording medium is loaded, in the process wherein the carrier is moved from the eject position to the loaded position, the carrier releases a resilience to the transferring disc holding member, permitting the transferring disc holding member to move to a holding position for holding the disc-shaped recording medium.
When the carrier is set at the eject position, because the carrier causes the transferring disc holding member to move to the retrocede position without baring the insertion of the disc-shaped recording medium, the disc-shaped recording medium can be smoothly inserted. In addition, When the disc-shaped recording medium is loaded and in the process that the carrier is moved from the eject position to the loaded position, because the carrier releases the resilience to the transferring disc holding member to permit it to move to the holding position for holding the disc-shaped recording medium, the transferring disc holding member does not promptly contact with the disc-shaped recording medium accompanied with the move of the carrier and the transferring disc holding member is only in contact with the rear portion in the insertion direction of the disc-shaped recording medium. Therefore, the disc insertion loading can be reduced when the disc-shaped recording medium is inserted.
The present invention further provides a disc apparatus, comprising an insertion opening used for selectively inserting a disc-shaped recording medium or a cartridge enfolding a disc-shaped recording medium therein; an opening/closing member, for rotating to a close position for closing the insertion opening except for an opening having a slit so that the disc-shaped recording medium can be passed before the cartridge is inserted, and for rotating toward a direction for opening the insertion opening and being held in an open position for opening the insertion opening in the process by which the cartridge is inserted; and an elastic member installed in a manner to fill the opening of the opening/closing member, being capable of deformation by the insertion of the disc-shaped recording medium and guiding an insertion position of the disc-shaped recording medium by a resilient force. When the disc-shaped recording medium is directly inserted through the insertion opening, the elastic member is bent to guide the insertion position of the disc-shaped recording medium. When the cartridge is inserted, the opening/closing member is rotated to the open position so that the cartridge can be smoothly inserted.
The position that the elastic member guides the insertion of the disc-shaped recording medium is substantially the same as the insertion position of the cartridge passing through the insertion opening. The disc-shaped recording medium and the cartridge can be held in the same plane level, and can be firmly loaded into the disc apparatus.
The opening/closing member comprises two parts arranged to separate the insertion opening into two portions, and the two parts are rotated in two different directions due to the insertion of the cartridge to open the insertion opening. Therefore, the opening/closing member can be smoothly opened or closed. In addition, the insertion position of the disc-shaped recording medium can be arranged in the center of the insertion opening so that the disc-shaped recording medium can be easily inserted.